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Border crime can't be categorized as one statistic

Border crime can't be categorized as one statistic

An in-depth analysis of the latest crime numbers reveals that the 1,254-mile Texas-Mexico border defies any single description.

"The border is so diverse, you couldn't put the whole border in one bucket," said Rusty Fleming, a volunteer public information officer for the sheriff's department in rural, sparsely populated Hudspeth County.

The statistics used by the American-Statesman, which are the same as those provided to the FBI as part of its Uniform Crime Report, were provided by the Department of Public Safety and include data recently published on the department's website as part of its detailed 2010 crime report.

Among the paper's findings:

• In some areas, the border is literally a line separating deadly violence from safety. In the five Texas border counties sitting across from the Mexican cities with the worst cartel-related violence, violent crime rates fell from 2006 to 2010 in three — Cameron, Hidalgo and Webb.

• Crime rates tended to drop in the border's most populous counties: Of the four largest counties, only Hidalgo County saw its overall crime rate increase, but that was driven entirely by an increase in nonviolent property crime. The county's violent crime rate actually dropped by 15 percent.

• Violent crime rates increased in El Paso and Starr counties. Across the river from the Mexican cities of Miguel Aleman, Camargo and Ciudad Mier, which have witnessed brutal fighting between the Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, Starr County's rate of violent crime climbed 90 percent between 2006 and 2010. While the county's murder rate remained stable, the increase was driven almost entirely by an increase in assaults in unincorporated parts of the county outside the cities of Roma and Rio Grande.

• The largest crime rate increases were in three of the border's least populous counties: Kinney, Terrell and Hudspeth counties, respectively. The counties' small populations mean even slight jumps in the numbers translate to big crime rate changes. Still, each saw increases in property crimes such as burglary and auto theft. Rural ranch owners have been among the most vocal population calling for more state and federal protection in border counties.

• Several cities saw significant increases in violent crime, including El Paso, long held up as a paragon of the safe border city unfairly targeted by state officials. While the murder rate fell to less than 1 percent (only five in 2010), the aggravated assault rate there increased 26 percent.

• With the exception of El Paso, the border cities with more than 100,000 residents saw decreases in violent crime over the last five years. Brownsville's rate fell 38 percent, Laredo's fell 11 percent, and McAllen's fell 26 percent.